But those on Weibo know why his post roused such hatred. On Chinese social media — where exposing official hypocrisy is a national sport — nothing makes you lose street cred as quickly as shilling for the government, and those on Weibo know that Chan has a history of parroting the Communist Party's stances on many things (for example, by claiming that Beijing's air pollution doesn't exist).

His off-the-cuff rant at a Hainan film symposium not only garned the hatred of Taiwan citizens and Hong Kong residents, but the contempt of Chinese activists. To them, it recalled former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew's argument that dictatorship is part of "Asian Values."

To be fair, Chan was mostly speaking about the lack of regulation over food safety and media piracy. But in a country where stealing more than $3,000 worth of property can put you on death row, and where the law doles out harsh punishment against ethnic minorities and political dissidents, Chinese netizens were having none of it.

While Chan has not identified himself as the man in the photo, many online saw this as a symbol of Chan's privilege among officials, especially as military-licensed drivers have gotten away with drunk driving and running over pedestrians. On Weibo, taking cellphone photos of military license drivers doing obnoxious things is a perennial sport.